Everpar Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Everpar Advisors LLC reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,845,895,000 after buying an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,240,089,000 after buying an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,870,683,000 after buying an additional 428,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $129.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $207.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $121.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.